Burning Bridges
by CG3894
Summary: After reconnecting with each other once the trial is over, it's time for Kelly to face the music and tell Stella the truth about Renee. Will this be the end for them, or will his honesty bring them closer together?
1. Chapter 1

Stella woke up with a sigh, feeling content after reconnecting with Kelly after the trial ended. She reached over to where Kelly should've been, instead finding an empty place. As her eyes adjusted to the light and shifted around the room, she found him sitting at the end of the bed. "Hey, what are you doing? Come back to bed with me" she said, patting the place next to her. He turned around, a clear look of anguish on his face. "I don't know how to do this anymore" he said. Stella felt it coming, the end that had already come once before with him and that had come multiple times before in other relationships. Somehow though, this stung more than any other burn she's experienced. "Do what?" she finally asked after a few moments of tortured silence.

"Keep the truth from you. After the trial, Renee kissed me. I pulled away, it meant nothing to me. Please, baby, you have to believe me". He could see the look of sadness in her eyes, but worst of all was how he knew he broke her trust after she gave it to him when he didn't deserve it. Angry tears begin to roll down her cheeks that she quickly swiped away and she got out of bed and begin to move around the apartment. "Stella, please, where are you going? Stay and talk to me" "I knew I couldn't trust her. I can't even blame you, I was the one who told you to do the trial. I just can't look at you anymore because all I see is her". She started throwing things in a duffle bag, all while he sat there looking on helplessly. "Baby please, where are you going? This is your apartment, I should be the one to leave". She looked at him, anger clear in her face. "I can't do this Kelly! Is this going anywhere for you? Because before the trial started I never would've doubted us, but now Renee just put cracks in our relationship and I don't know if we can fix them".

She stopped as the tears started coming more heavily, needing a moment to compose herself. All Kelly could do was stand by helplessly, trying to find the right words to say. "Kelly, stay here or go home, I don't really care, but I'm going to stay with Dawson and Casey because now I can't even be in my own apartment without thinking of how you hurt me". She turned towards the door, pulling out her phone to call Dawson. "Stella, please stay. I love you. I realized it when you were in the house with the bullets flying and I didn't know if you were safe, but I'm sure I loved you way before that. So now I'm asking, no begging you, to stay with me".

His words and the emotion she could

hear in his voice caused Stella to stop in her tracks, dropping her phone as she was

overcome with the feeling that she couldn't leave him even if her life depended on it. Kelly walked up to her slowly, seeing that for now she wasn't running. He put his hand on her shoulder, feeling her shake beneath his touch. "Please Stella, don't run", he said with a cracking voice. She turned around, tears running non stop down her cheeks, the sight of Kelly with tears in his eyes not helping her to control her emotions. He brought a shaky hand to her cheek, which was all it took for her to fall apart. Kelly brought his arms around her, but she wasn't ready to give in just yet. She struggled against him, but his strong hold combined with the powerful sobs now taking over proved too much for her to fight against.

"I'm so mad at you, but I love you. I love you even when I'm mad at you". His trailed kisses down her face while leading her to the couch. He guided her to sitting down and sat down next to her. As much as she was hurt, she couldn't stand to stay away from him for a second longer and collapsed against him with her face buried in his neck. He kept a strong grip on her, willing to hold her for the rest of his life if he could. "I don't know what to think right now", she said while trailing off, unable to finish her train of thought. "Stella, I know I don't deserve anything from you but please trust me. I would never want to hurt you". She looked up at him, her red rimmed eyes and trail of tears on her face breaking his heart. He gently wiped away the remaining tears, and left his hand to rest in her curly hair. "Kelly, I love you, maybe more than I've loved anyone else. It's not fair of me to take this away from both of us when I know that what we have is real. Just please don't leave me tonight", she said with her voice cracking.

He felt as though every piece of his heart was held by her in that moment. "Stella, I promise that I'm not going anywhere. I know my past doesn't paint a good picture, but I'm not the same person I once was. I don't know a lot of things, but what I know without a doubt in my mind that I love you". She was too emotionally exhausted to respond, and all she could do at this point was simply drop her head on his chest and tightly grip his shirt, wishing to anyone that would listen that she would never have to let go. He adjusted their position so they were laying on the couch now, their legs tangled together and her head coming to rest right below his chin. He tightened his arms around her and moved his arm up and down her back, sighing a breath of relief. She could feel more tears burning her eyes, and tried but failed to keep Kelly from noticing as a sob managed to escape. "Stella, please, talk to me. What else is it? What can I do to reassure you?" She shook her head and tried to sink further into him, unable to express how she was feeling at that moment. He tipped her chin up, needing to look into her eyes. "Baby, please, talk to me", he pleaded once again. "You've done everything right Kelly. It's just that everything I've kept inside over the last few weeks is coming out and I don't think I could stop it if I tried". He didn't say anything, just gave her a reassuring squeeze and continued to run his hand up and down her back and through her hair as a way to give her the comfort and support she needed. "I'm here, Stella. I'm here".

30 minutes later, and Kelly was sure that Stella had fallen asleep due to her steady breathing but her voice softly calling his name proved him wrong. "What is it, Stella? I'm right here". She sighed, lifting her head up and reaching up with her hands to touch his face. "I don't think I'm ready to move back in with you. I don't want us to rush, but I think we need more time together outside of work. I love that we work together, but it's not enough for me". She barely finished her sentence before he was kissing her in the way that made her feel a warmth inside of her that she didn't even think being in a burning building could make her feel. "I agree that it's not enough. We both need to make more of an effort. I would spend every second with you if it was possible. Just say the word, I'm all yours anytime you want me". She abruptly got up, and walked to her closet and begin rifling through it. Before he could question what she was doing, she turned around to face him. "You still owe me a date if I remember correctly. So I'm picking an outfit, then you're driving back to your apartment and I'm going to get ready in my old room and you're going to get ready in your room like we still live together and then we're going out". He got up and walked to meet her, leaning in "I like the way you think. Don't let me see your panties, because we're finishing the game that we were so rudely interrupted during the other night". With that, he walked and sat back down on the couch while she stood momentarily frozen until she finished throwing everything she would need to get ready into her bag. "You ready?" she asked him. He stood, reaching one hand forward to grab her bag from her and the other to bring her hand to his. "With you? Always?"


	2. Chapter 2

10 minutes later, they arrived outside of Kelly's apartment. For Stella the ride was a breeze, but the ride was torture for Kelly. Stella had decided that she couldn't keep her hands to herself, constantly running her hand up Kelly's leg, chest and arm, and at times reaching over and kissing his neck, ear, and lips if he would let her. He put the car in park, running over to her side. "You are lucky we made it here in one piece. We're calling an uber for dinner because I can't guarantee we'll be so lucky next time". She looked up at him with an innocent look on her face. "I don't know what your talking about. I was simply enjoying my view to the left". He brought his arms to frame either side of her body against the car, followed by his lips coming down to meet hers. He let her enjoy the kiss for a moment before pulling away, seeing her pout at the kiss ending. "I have a date to bring you on, let's go get ready" he said, leading her up to her former home. "It feels weird being back here. Like I'm not allowed since I moved out". "You probably only think that because you were kicked out of your apartment before you ended up here". She rolled her eyes at him, heading towards her former bedroom but was stopped by his hand reaching out and landing on her hip. "Hey, where are you going? I was thinking we could save on my water bill by showering together". He barely had the words out of his mouth before she pulled her shirt over her head and had him following her to the bathroom.

An hour and one shared shower later, Kelly was waiting on the couch while Stella finished getting ready. "Hey Stella, how much longer will you be? I just called an Uber". With that, she walked out of his room and caused him to stop and stare at the beauty in front of him. Her dress was olive green, and hugged her body in all the right places. He never had a doubt that she was stunning, but tonight she was on another level. "What? Say something please". He walked towards her, placing his hands on her waist and brought his lips to her forehead. "You are the most gorgeous person I have ever seen". She blushed, taking in his appearance. He wore a dark suit that looked like it was made for him. "Yea, well you don't look so bad yourself". She leaned in to kiss him, and as he was deepening it his phone buzzed with a notification that their uber was outside. He sighed impatiently, and then took her hand and lead her out of the apartment to the waiting car. He opened the door for her, and after they were both in the car he reached over for her hand and held on like it was the only thing that mattered in the world, because truly, what else did matter?

20 minutes later they arrived at their restaurant, a top destination for tourists and locals alike. She clung to his side to stay warm in the chilly night as he lead her to the door. They were seating quickly, counting themselves lucky to have a job that allowed time off in the middle of the week because otherwise a table on short notice might not be possible. As they waited for to place their orders, she caught him up on all the drama he missed at the firehouse for being out for just one shift. They wondered whether Cruz would ever tell Brett how he was feeling, both knowing what it's like to meet the most important person to you at your place of work. She tried not to let her mind wonder back to Renee, but it happened during a quiet time when they were both deciding what to order. He picked up on her change in mood before she could force a smile, knowing her all too well. "Stella, what happened in the last 3 minutes that made you suddenly seem so upset". She shook her head, not wanting to talk about it. "I would rather not let my wandering brain ruin our night. Please, it's nothing, just forget it". "Stella". "No. That's the end of the conversation for now. I'm okay, I promise. Please just trust me". He looked at her, knowing that this was not a disagreement he was going to win and choose to drop it. "Red". She looked at him confused. "Oh I thought we were finishing our game from last week. My first guess is red". She broke out into a smile, leaning over the table to him. "Who said you get more than one guess?"

30 minutes later, their food arrived, giving Kelly a chance to collect his thoughts and wonder how he still hadn't guessed the right color yet. Stella looked at him with a smirk on her face, confident that he wouldn't guess. "You have one more guess. So dig deep into your imagination before you lose your chance to see anything else tonight". He groaned, knowing his chances of guessing correctly were lower now. But he was not someone who buckled under pressure. He looked right into her eyes, willingly her to give up the answer without saying it. She stared right back, confident he wasn't going to be right. "So? What's your guess"? "I'm going to go for the Hail Mary here. No color, because you're not wearing any". She froze, and for a second he thought he had her until she threw her head back and began laughing. "Hey hey what's so funny about that? I know you well enough to know that's a valid guess", he said while raising his eyebrows at her. "Yes it is a valid guess, and if we weren't interrupted last time we played this you would've won right now". She continued to laugh at his express while he groaned and threw his head back. "At Molly's, baby, really? Are you trying to kill me"? She smirked at him, shrugging her shoulders. The waiter came and cleared their plates and took their order for dessert. After they enjoyed their dessert and the check was paid, Stella looked at Kelly and decided to be nice tonight. "I think if you're good then maybe I'll give you one more guess tonight. But only when we get back to your apartment, because I'm not going home tonight." With that, he was leading her out to the cold night and into a cab heading straight to their once shared apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

One meal and shared dessert later, Stella found herself back at Kelly's apartment even though she promised herself she would limit the amount of times she spend the night there after moving out. But after Kelly had brought her out for the perfect date after holding her and wiping her tears away only hours before, how could she not? They entered the apartment, and she dropped onto the couch to pull her heals off. She was about to enter the bathroom to take her makeup off, when she realized she forgot her makeup wipes at home. With a groan, she plopped back onto the couch and gave into the fact that she would have makeup smeared over her entire face in the morning. "What is it?" Kelly asked, who was sitting beside her watching the entire time. "It's nothing. I forgot my makeup wipes at home so now I'll probably breakout tomorrow because I can't take any of it off tonight". He laughed, dodging a fake punch from her. "Why don't you go look in your old bathroom, maybe you left something behind". She looked at him with appreciation at the good idea and went to do just that. As she entered the bathroom, she opened the cabinet to find it filled with all of the products she used. She was confused as to how this was possible, she knew she didn't leave this much behind, until she noticed Kelly in the mirror standing in the doorway and everything clicked. "You did this? When, how did you even know what to buy"? "Well first of all give me a little credit, I do pay attention when you get ready. And I just wanted it to be as easy as possible for you to come and stay here at a moments notice". All of a sudden, she found herself not caring about makeup wipes, Renee or anything in the world besides the person standing right in front of her.

She approached him slowly, throwing her arms around his neck when she reached him. "You know, even though you didn't guess the right color yet I think I'll still let you take off all my clothes tonight". That was all it took for him to have her in his arms with her legs secured around his waist. He effortlessly carried her to his room, all while she kept her hands on his face and neck and kissed him with everything she had inside her. He lowered her to the bed, without saying a word she turned so he could reach the zipper on her dress and pull it off. He took her in, and laughed at the color he saw. "Really Stella, orange? I don't think I've ever seen you wearing orange". She laughed at him, but was too focused on her lack of clothes while he was still fully dressed. "Not fair", she said while pulling his jacket and tie off and working on his buttons on his shirt and pants. He lowered his lips to her, covered her face and neck with kisses. "I love you", they both said at the same time. Had it not been for the intensity of the situation, they probably would've laughed at how in sync they are. She finished pulling his clothes off, with help from him at times. Moments later, he entered her and she cried out from pure joy of how much love she felt coming from him.

Later that night, Stella laid on top of Kelly, both too exhausted to move. She ran her hand up and down his chest until he reached for her hand and brought it between his own. She turned into him, wanting to have as much contact with him as she could, somehow feeling more love for him than she felt hours before when they were back at her apartment. He gave her a gentle tug, bringing her legs intertwined with his and her upper body laying on his chest. "Stella?" he said softly. She hummed in response to indicate that she heard him. "Did I ever apologize to you?" She looked at him confused, not understanding. "For that night that you were trying to cheer me up, but I spent at Renee's house. I should've been with you". She shook her head at his words. "Honestly, I was upset that night and maybe the next day too but it's over. She's in the past". He opened his mouth to respond, but she stopped him. "No wait I'm not done. My past was crazy, and I never had a clear picture of the future. But now, when I think of the future, all I see is you and me". He kissed her deeply, lacing his fingers with hers at the same time. "Stella, I don't care about anything in my future as long as it has you in it. Seeing Boden go through everything over the last few days makes me even more confident that I don't need any of that. I just need you". She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat while he ran his hand up and down her back, both wondering how they finally managed to find one person in the world who understood them when that's all they wanted their whole life.

The next morning, Kelly woke up to an empty bed and noises coming from his kitchen. Pulling on a pair of boxers, he exited his room to look for Stella. He found her by his oven, making pancakes while humming along to the music playing from her phone. He crept up behind her and wrapped her arms around her, making her jump at the unexpected contact. She spun around in his arms, pulling him in for a quick kiss. "Good morning to you, sleeping beauty", she said to him. "I woke up hungry, and since you didn't look like you were waking up anytime soon I decided to take matters into my own hands". She turned her attention back to the oven, flipping the pancakes before they would burn. He stood behind her, brushing her hair off to one shoulder and tugging down one of his old shirts that she wore while covering her neck and shoulder with kisses. She sighed, trying not to let him distract her from finishing their breakfast. After taking the last pancakes off the pan, she turned the oven off and turned around. All it took was one look from her before before he had her up on the counter, standing between her parted legs and pulling her closer for a deep kiss. She responded enthusiastically, only coming up for air a few moments later. "Before you distract me anymore, let's eat breakfast. I worked pretty hard on it, you know". He lifted her off the counter before she could object, both laughing as he threw her down onto the couch. "Okay, but since it's my apartment I decided that we're eating on the couch". He grabbed plates for both of them, each enjoying having a normal moment between the two of them for the first time in a while. They made plans for a trip to Milwaukee that they never got around to, picking a day next month. After eating, he brought their plates into the kitchen and cleaned up as Stella watched him from the couch. She had to resist the urge to get up and throw her arms around him, suddenly feeling a strong since of need towards him. He turned around and looked at her, somehow knowing what she was feeling without having to share any words. He turned the dishwasher on and crossed the apartment to join her side once again. He sat next to her, his open arms the only invitation she needed. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him closer to her and resting her head on his chest. He ran a hand up and down her back and through her wild hair. Somehow, after everything that had happened the last few weeks, all they needed in that exact moment was the other persons presence to feel like everything would be okay.


End file.
